Earth

In scripture, there are several words that are translated as "earth". These same words are also translated as "land" and often refer to the land of promise. These words are:

• אֶרֶץ (Hbr. eres/erets) - world, earth, dirt, land, nations, inhabitants of the land
• אֲדָמָה (Hbr. adama) - earth, ground, land, country
• אֲרַע (Hbr. 'ara) - earth, world, ground
• אֲרַק (Hbr. 'ăraq) - earth
• γῆ (Grk ge) - earth, land, world, dirt, nations, inhabitants of the land (corresponds to אֶרֶץ and its derivatives)
• οἰκουμένη (Grk. oikoumene) - kingdom, world, earth, all under one rule

Eres, geo, and oikoumene are the most common words found and we will simply refer to them collectively as "earth" or "land". Context determines their meaning in specificity. There are four concepts that these words for "earth" can refer to:

Physically

1.  Earth can refer to the planet we live on (Genesis 1:1 - Hebrew 'erets; Greek - ge).

2.  Earth can refer to the land or dirt (Genesis 1:10 - Hebrew 'erets; Greek - ge).

3.  Earth can refer to the geographic boundaries of a kingdom or nation (Matthew 24:14 - Hebrew - tebel; Greek - oikoumene).

Metaphorically

4.  Earth can refer to the people ruled by a king.  As the sun, moon, and stars rule, the people they rule are the earth, the thing they are "above".  (Isaiah 1:2, 10)

It is this fourth case to which this article will turn its attention. Earth in apocalyptic texts refers to the people ruled, and specifically to the people of the land or the people of the Promised Land. This is how it is used starting with Moses and all the way throughout the major and minor prophets. Below is a case built for such a reference.

Places Where Earth Refers to the Promised Land Literally

1. Genesis 12 - land; Here Abram is taken out of Ur and led to the land of Canaan, which would be called the Promised Land.
2. Genesis 13:15-17 - land, earth; Here God promises Abram all the land that he could see and that his children would number as the dust of the land/earth.
3. Genesis 15:7, 18 - land; God once again references the Promise Land
4. Genesis 17:8 - land; God reaffirms His promise to Abram.
5. Genesis 24:7 - land; Abraham references the promise God made to him.
6. Genesis 26 - land; God iterates His promise to Abraham unto Isaac referring again to the land promised to their descendants.
7. Genesis 28:4, 13-14 - land; Isaac tells Jacob to find a wife of Laban, a relative, that Jacob may inherit the land promised. God reaffirms this promise to Jacob.
8. Genesis 35:12 - land; God iterates His promise to Jacob
9. Genesis 48:4 - land; Jacob tells Joseph about the promise God made to Abraham, Isaac, and himself about the land of Canaan.
10. Genesis 50:24 - land; Joseph is aged and prophesies that God will return the people to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and that they were to take Joseph's bones with them when they went so that Joseph could be buried in the land of promise.
11. Exodus 3:17 - land; God speaks to Moses about the land promised to Abraham's descendants.
12. Exodus 6:4,8 - land; God tells Moses to relate the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to tell them it is time for them to go to that land of promise.
13. Exodus 12:25 - land; Passover is being instituted and the Israelites are told that when they reach the Promised Land they will keep it as a feast all their days.
14. Exodus 12:48 - land; circumcision instituted, and those who are strangers who proselytize and are circumcised shall be counted as one born in the Promised Land.
15. Exodus 13:5, 11 - land; the land promised to the fathers of the Israelites is referenced again.
16. Exodus 23:10-33 - land; instructions for when the Israelites entered the land of promise and dwelt there and set about driving out the wicked nations.
17. Exodus 32:13 - land; Moses pleads with God not to destroy the Israelites by appealing to the promise He made to them concerning the land.
18. Exodus 33:1-3 - land; God the Father says He will not go with them, but will send His messenger (God the Son) before them into the land of promise to drive out the wicked nations there for they are a stiff-necked people.
19. Exodus 34:12,15 - land; Moses tells the people not to make a covenant with the people of the land.
20. Exodus 34:24 - land; the wicked nations will be cast out and no man will desire their land when they go up three times a year for feasts.
21. Leviticus 14:34 - land; when they come into the land of Canaan to possess it and a house within that land has leprosy...
22. Leviticus 18:25-28 - land; sexual immorality defiles the land and will cause the people of the [promised] land to be vomited out of it like those who did so before they were evicted by God and the Israelites.
23. Leviticus 19:23 - land; newly planted trees shall be considered uncircumcised and not eaten of for three years.
24. Leviticus 19:29 - land; do not let your daughters become prostitutes lest they corrupt the entire land of promise.
25. Leviticus 19:33 - land; if a stranger sojourn in the promised land.
26. Leviticus 20:22 - land; do all that Yahweh commands that the land does not spew you out.
27. Leviticus 20:24 - land; the promised land flows with milk and honey, given to them by Yahweh.
28. Leviticus 22:24 - land; do not make sacrifices in the land of animals that are bruised, broken, crushed, or otherwise wounded.
29. Leviticus 23:10 - land; when you [Israelites] come into the land and reap the harvest...
30. Leviticus 23:22 - land; when you [Israelites] come into the land and reap the harvest...
31. Leviticus 23:39 - land; when you [Israelites] come into the land and reap the harvest...
32. Leviticus 25:2 - land; when you come into the land, teach your children to keep the sabbath
33. Leviticus 25:7 - land; the beasts that are in the [promised] land
34. Leviticus 25:9-10 - land; the trumpet will sound the Jubilee celebration throughout the land
35. Leviticus 25:18-19 - land; if Israel kept the commandments of Yahweh, they would dwell in safety in the land.
36. Leviticus 25:23-24 - land; do not sell any part of the promised land to foreigners
37. Leviticus 25:24 - land; children begotten to sojourners in the promised land.
38. Leviticus 26:1 - land; no idols, stones, or imagines can be set up in the promised land.
39. Leviticus 26:4-6 - land; blessings of the land for the faithful
40. Leviticus 26:19 - earth; "your earth" that is, the promised land, will become as brass if they become unfaithful
41. Leviticus 26:20 - land; the promised land will not yield its bounty if they become unfaithful
42. Leviticus 26:32-34 - land; the promised land would be brought to desolation if they become unfaithful
43. Leviticus 26:42-44 - land; if they humble themselves and repent, Yahweh will remember His covenant with Abraham concerning the land.
44. Leviticus 27:30 - land; the tithe of the fruit of the promised land is Yahweh's.

Places Where Earth Refers to the People

1. Leviticus 4:27 - common (KJV); the land (YLT); if any of the people of the [promised] land sin in ignorance...
2. Leviticus 20:2,4 - people of the land; stone those who worship idols and those who fail to report it.